Slappy- Amber Bugs

Slappy stared at the shelf, at the pile of amber stones that Shannon had stacked there. He raised both arms and began to chant. I couldn’t hear the words. His voice was a whisper.

  Slappy continued to wave both hands at the stones, murmuring the same string of words over and over.

  As I stared in confusion, the amber stones began to move. They popped open silently. The amber appeared to melt. Bubbles formed and the stones oozed onto the shelf.

  And then I realized what Slappy was doing.

  The insects … the ancient insects … thousands of years old. They’d been trapped so long, and now he was setting them free.

  Their spindly legs quivered. Antennae waved above their sleek heads for the first time in two thousand years. Paper-thin wings fluttered. Round black eyes rolled.

  The insects breathed and wriggled and then walked. I watched them climb out from their melting amber prisons.

  Over a hundred of them! They walked unsteadily, moving in narrow circles. They bumped each other and buzzed and flapped their wings.

  “Aroooo! Arooo!” Slappy suddenly shouted. He motioned with both hands. “Arooo! Arooo!” He waved toward the mummy.

  And as he shouted, the ancient insects obeyed. They huddled together. Formed a dark cloud of buzzing, biting, breathing creatures.

-The Dummy Meets the Mummy, chapter 26